A Silicon Valley startup says it has taken on the challenge of opening up the plastic scrap trading industry. Scrapo Inc. seeks to make it easier for buyers and sellers to discover, negotiate and close deals from around the world.

Sellers can list materials in seconds and receive instant bids from interested buyers, the company says, while buyers can browse through available offers and make a bid. The Scrapo mobile app allows users to use the network from their phones.

To facilitate trade in the platform, Scrapo says it has integrated real-time communication tools so traders don’t need to check emails or make phone calls.

“The idea is to promote free market philosophy through use of technology,” says Rashad Abbasov, co-founder and CEO of Scrapo. “If you as a trader, big or small, have access to hundreds of offers instead of a few, you obviously would end up making a much better deal for yourself.”

One of the factors that can undermine market efficiency and create barriers to trade is the lack of trust between buyers and sellers, according to Scrapo. Buyers in some cases don’t know suppliers, nor can they be sure of the quality of the material they should expect to receive unless they visit and inspect materials at the sellers’ sites. This is of greater concern for international buyers.

Similarly, from a seller’s perspective, guaranteed on-time payment is a concern, the company says. Some marketplaces verify traders’ identities when they register on their platforms. However, Scrapo says this is not enough. “Guaranteeing quality and payment is equally important to facilitate a smooth and secure deal,” the company says.

Abbasov says, “We understand that trust is the biggest concern surrounding this industry. That’s why we have come up with an innovative solution—an on-demand service called ScrapoSure—to ensure trust and security.” He says with the Scraposure service, the company’s team personally visits the sellers’ sites, verifies their identities, inspects the materials, supervises the loading process and assists with the logistics. “We have also integrated an escrow payment system in the platform so that if all goes well with the deal, the seller receives the payment as soon as the material is shipped,” Abbasov says. “We want to make recyclables trading as easy and secure as buying a book on Amazon.”

More information is available at www.scrapo.co, and the company’s app can be downloaded from the App Store or from Google Play.

The Study on the Economic Impacts of Recycling includes detailed recycling data collected from municipalities, private operators and others who divert from landfill paper, plastics, metal, glass, organics, construction debris and other materials.

Scott Pasternak, who conducted the study for TCEQ, will review results and conclusions during a free webinar from 10-11:30 a.m. (CST) on America Recycles Day Nov. 15. To register for the webinar, click here.

“Our vision for this study was for it to serve as a resource to help communities and businesses across Texas better understand the economic impacts of recycling in Texas,” says Pasternak, a project manager for Burns & McDonnell in Austin. “The study strongly connects how recycling efforts in Texas are generating economic opportunities across the state, now and into the future.”

Among the economic benefits generated for the state by municipal solid waste recycling in 2015, according to the study, are more than 17,000 person years (full-time, existing jobs) of direct, indirect and induced employment and an overall impact on the Texas economy exceeding $3.3 billion.

Texas Rep. Ed Thompson says he is pleased with the study’s results. He wrote the bill that became law in 2015, ordering the study.

“I’m pleased with the results of this study showing the economic importance of recycling,” Thompson says. “The study shows that not only is recycling beneficial for the environment by saving space in landfills, but it also plays a positive role in the Texas economy. I’m proud that this study is able to bring more attention to these issues and educate people on the constructive impacts of recycling.”

methods to increase recycling in Texas, such as the development of new markets for recycled materials and new businesses that may result from increased recycling;

funding methods to increase recycling;

job creation from recycling as well as potential job creation that will result from increased recycling; and

infrastructure needs and opportunities for rural and underserved areas.

Burns & McDonnell is a family of companies made up of more than 5,700 engineers, architects, construction professionals, scientists, consultants and entrepreneurs with offices across the country and throughout the world.

America Recycles Day annually promotes and celebrates recycling culture in the United States. SWANA and its members are committed supporters and advocates of the training, campaigns, events and program improvements offered by Keep America Beautiful that help move the recycling industry forward, says the association.

“SWANA is proud to collaborate with associations like Keep America Beautiful that share our mission of improving the management of solid waste,” says Jeff Murray, SWANA’s international president. “I hope that we can all take some time during this important day to consider how each of us can improve our recycling mindset in our office, schools and homes every day of the year.”

In 2017, SWANA says America Recycles Day comes at a time when the association recognizes the increased importance and need for recycling education. With the Chinese ban on material imports and other related restrictions looming over U.S. recycling programs, SWANA says it important to fund strong and effective recycling education programs that remind companies and homeowners to place only “the right stuff” in their recycling bins.

“Recent events make clear that it is critical for American recycling facilities to generate high-quality material; that’s true not only in order to export to China, but also to provide quality feedstock to North American companies,” says David Biderman, SWANA’s executive director and CEO. “Everyone from the waste generator to the collector to the MRF (material recovery facility) operator plays an important role in improving material quality. We also need to consider increasing municipal education and communications relating to recycling, to help guide American consumers on how to recycle properly.”

SWANA urges the industry and public to promote Keep America Beautiful’s “Be Recycled” message and to recognize the importance of educated recycling habits on America Recycles Day, and every day.

SWANA is an organization of more than 9,000 public and private sector professionals committed to advancing from solid waste management to resource management through their shared emphasis on education, advocacy and research. For more than 50 years, SWANA has been the leading association in the solid waste management field.

China’s customs agency may reconsider some plastic scrap restrictions

Nation’s customs agency reportedly also arrests 39 people for signing off on plastic scrap and metal slags.

Steve Wong, executive vice president of the China Plastic Scrap Association (CSPA) and chairman of Hong Kong-based Fukutomi Co. Ltd., has sent two emails to members spelling out new enforcement efforts in China directed toward companies that import scrap materials.

Wong notes that several forms of plastic scrap are scheduled to be banned by end of 2018, though he is increasingly hearing that “China would not close the door entirely, as ‘reasonableness’ is the spirit of the rule.” He continues, “It is perceived that there is a possible leeway of certain forms of plastic scrap, such as washed flakes, allowed for import in 2018, if it can be justified by a ‘recognized standard’ as feedstock for finished goods production without prior processing,” writes Wong.

At the CSPA’s conference in early November 2017, Wong writes he had the chance to talk to the director of China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC), including about whether China in 2018 may yet accept some imported items such as washed flakes.

Wong writes, “While he is supportive [and[ says that it is reasonable for the GAC to consider [it] based on a set of recognized standards: a standard recognizing that the washed flakes can be classified as industrial or secondary materials [that] can be used directly as feedstock for production of finished goods without prior processing.”

Wong continues, “To justify that raw materials for finished goods production need not necessarily be in the form of pellets, it is desirable that once the plastic scrap can meet such standards, it can be classified as industrial in nature regardless the origin of it, and [it can] be categorized with a unique HS (harmonized system) code tantamount to pellet and be allowed for importing.”

Wong also cites a news release from China’s GAC dated Nov. 11, 2017, that spells out “a crackdown action” carried out by the agency in six cities, including Tianjin, Dalian, Qingdao, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Shantou, with the support of the police force.

The joint actions reportedly seized 39 suspects on charges related to “smuggling plastic waste and slags” amounting to 33,000 tons. The agency also seized what it considered to be relevant documentary evidence.

The use of third-party permits was part of the investigation, and the plastic scrap is then sold to what Wong calls “unqualified small factories and workshops for processing.”

The government relations department of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), Washington, issued an email Nov. 13, 2017, noting that the Chinese government is expected to release final scrap import guidelines in two to four weeks.

The email states: “Industry contacts believe the Chinese government will finalize the contaminants thresholds in its Environmental Protection Control standards for scrap (GB 16487) at 1 percent for ferrous and nonferrous metals, 1 percent for paper and 0.5 percent for plastics. This information has been reported in the media, but it cannot be confirmed until the Chinese government issues the final regulation.”

ISRI says it learned of the development while attending the China Nonferrous Metals Association conference in Ningbo, China, in early November.

The association says the timeline for compliance is unknown at this point, adding, “Until then, ISRI members and Chinese customers report that materials are entering China under the current rules.”

ISRI is reporting that Chinese industry associations think the new thresholds are a “victory” for the industry because they are preferable to the 0.3 percent threshold for “carried waste” that China originally published in August.